9 Aug 2007

Support your shorts!

The Slushmaster makes a great point here - quit complaining about the short fiction markets dying and do something about it.

It's pretty hard to get short fiction magazines in New Zealand. The only ones you'll find in stores round these parts are Analog and Asimov's. Which is why I went a little crazy with the credit card in Barnes & Noble when I was in the US a few months ago. But the exchange rate means it's a good time to look at international subscriptions.

I subscribed to Weird Tales a couple of months back. You can get an international subscription for $54.00, which, given the current exchange rate, isn't a bad deal. You'll pay that much for a single hardback book. And if you've read my previous post on WT, you'll know I think it's a great read. But don't take my word for it - ask my dad. See, my dad doesn't read very much at all, except for Wilbur Smith. But he saw my copy of Weird Tales on the coffee table, picked it up and started reading. He really liked Paul E. Martens' story Mary Smith. Weird Tales must be doing something right if they can hook my dad like that.

In the next couple of days I'll be subscribing to Shimmer. I've bought a couple of individual electronic copies of this, but it's time to get the paper version. And again, it's pretty cheap - $33.00 for an international subscription. Only $12 if you want the electronic version. And don't forget the pirate issue is coming...

So come on - support the short markets. Even if you have to get an international subscription. Doesn't matter which one you pick, but pick one. Think of it like a Telethon, but without the whistling stomachs.